Sick of Premiere Pro? Try Editing in DaVinci Resolve.

DaVinci Resolve is more than just the world’s best color grading platform — it’s a professional video editing software too. Editors are making the switch. Here’s why.

For over a decade, DaVinciResolve has been the industry-standard solution for colorgrading film and video projects. However, everything changed in 2014 when BlackmagicDesign introduced video editing features in DaVinciResolve. Users were promised the ability to edit their entire project natively in Resolve without ever opening up Premiere, Final Cut Pro, or Media Composer.

The 2014 release was well received, yet some basic features like multi-cam editing were missing. Since then, Resolve has received some major updates to become a video editing platform comparable to Final Cut Pro and Premiere Pro.

DaVinci Resolve is currently more popular than it ever has been, via Google Trends

Some non-biased industry leaders have even started their migration over to Resolve. Most recently Dave Dugdale revealed that he will be making the switch over to Resolve. He states many reasons for making the switch ( like the advanced color features), yet it seems to be the SLog support that made the Resolve switch really appealing. The following video explains why he made the switch to DaVinciResolve.

In the video, Dugdale states that Premiere Pro currently has a slight edge over DaVinciResolve when it comes to 4K video editing, but if you work mainly in an HD format, both applications are essentially even.

If you work in After Effects all the time, it totally makes sense to edit in Premiere Pro.

The biggest thing to consider if you’re going to be transitioning from Premiere Pro to DaVinci Resolve is the loss of the Creative Cloud application ecosystem. With Premiere you can easily import After Effects compositions, Audition timelines, Photoshop documents in just a matter of seconds. This makes Premiere a great collaborative software. If you use more than Photoshop in your day-to-day workflow, it doesn’t make sense to transition over to Resolve, as you will already be spending $50 a month for the Creative Cloud.

Why Would I Want to Move to DaVinci Resolve from Premiere?

1. It’s Free

The most obvious advantage to using DaVinciResolve is that it’s free. In fact, if you made the switch from Premiere Pro to DaVinciResolve, you would save $50 bucks a month. Don’t think that Resolve is less useful because it’s free. You won’t find a better freevideoeditingsoftware in the world.

Of course, if you’re working on a larger project that requires color control surface integration or stereoscopic color grading, you can upgrade to the Studio version for $995. Blackmagic has a great chart that compares the free and paid versions.

2. The Best Color Grading Tools

The colorgradingtools are the main reason why professional colorists prefer DaVinciResolve over any other software. Using their node interface, users can edit high-resolution footage with incredible levels of precision.

The world’s most advanced color grading tools. — Blackmagic Design

Resolve has all of the features a colorist could need when working on a video project including:

Automatic Color Matching

Primary Color Adjustments

Secondary Color Adjustments

LUT Support

HSL Curves

Real-Time Noise Reduction (Studio Version Only)

In a lot of ways, DaVinciResolve has more tools than the average editor will ever use. The same can not be said about the color features found in Premiere Pro.

3. It’s a Complete Editing Platform

The advanced audio features in DaVinci Resolve are comparable to Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro.

DaVinciResolve video editing capabilities have only been around for about two years now, yet it has quickly become one of the most popular software options for video editors. With features like multi-cam editing, a multi-track timeline, and graph-editable keyframe paths, there’s seemingly no editing technique that can’t be accomplished using DaVinciResolve.

One thing that surprised me in Resolve: the advanced keyframing options. You’d expect a new software to only allow you to create linear keyframes, yet Resolve gives users complete control over their keyframe interpolations. Users familiar with smooth movements in After Effects will have no trouble doing the same in Resolve.

Awesome DaVinci Resolve Tutorials

So, you’ve decided to make the switch from Premiere Pro to DaVinci Resolve. Now what? Here are some of the best online tutorials for learning DaVinciResolve.

1. DaVinci Resolve: End-to-End

When it comes to learning DaVinciResolve, there are few resources as helpful as the YouTube Channel of Casey Faris. In this tutorial, Faris gives us a quick overview of DaVinciResolve, from import to export. The tutorial also dips into a few different color grading workflows for those interested in how color works in Resolve. Faris also gives away a lot of really cool color grading LUTs on his website, Color Grading Central.

2. Trimming in DaVinci Resolve

This helpful tutorial from The Post Color Blog gives us an overview of the various trimming features found in DaVinciResolve. In particular the tutorial shares how to use some of the more advanced features like the slidetool and rippletrim. A Premiere Pro editor will very quickly understand how to use Resolve’s trim features.

3. Color Grading in DaVinci Resolve

If you’re a video professional, Tom Antos is a fantastic resource for everything from practicaleffects to colorgrading. In this helpful tutorial, Antos shows us how to do basic color grading in DaVinciResolve using footage he captured on a music video shoot.

Great DaVinci Resolve Resources

The internet is littered with DaVinciResolve resources. If you’ve ever dreamed of learning Resolve, here are a few of our favorite online resources.

Alexis Van Hurkman (who is THE color grading expert for DaVinci Resolve) teaches a few Resolve courses over on Ripple Training. If you’re serious about learning DaVinciResolve, this is a great place to start. In the course linked above, users will learn the intricacies of using the Power Windows, OpenFX, and FX Management features found within DaVinciResolve.

Another great resource for learning the latest in DaVinciResolve is ColorGradingCentral. Every Thursday at 2:00 pm EST, Color Grading Central features free online tutoring in DaVinci Resolve. Users are invited to join in these free webcasts and ask hard-hitting color questions to industry experts.

Here on PremiumBeat, we keep our eyes peeled for the latest DaVinci Resolve tutorials and updates. If there’s big Resolve news, you’ll definitely hear about it here on PremiumBeat. If you’re interested in learning how to use DaVinciResolve (or simply looking for inspiring filmmaking and video editing articles), the PremiumBeat blog is the place for you.